OAXACA, Oax., September 11, 2020.- Hundreds of olive ridley turtles arrived at the La Escobilla Sea Turtle Sanctuary, on the Oaxaca Coast, to carry out their spawning process.
Olive ridley turtles are a species listed in danger of extinction in NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010.
Every year, this species of turtle, one of the smallest of the seven species of sea turtles that exist in the world, returns to the Oaxaca Coast to spawn.
Each turtle lays between eighty and one hundred eggs, which will hatch in 45 days.
It is estimated that out of every 100 tortoises that are born, only one reaches adulthood given the difficult conditions in which they must survive, as they form part of the diet of various species at each stage of their growth.
All this coupled with the indiscriminate hunting that it suffered during past decades, the effects of climate change, plastic pollution in the seas, incidental fishing, among other factors, have caused it to be in danger.
Since 1990 the Federal Penal Code established that the consumption and sale of turtle meat and eggs are illegal, punishable by fines of up to nine years in prison and penalties of up to 3,000 days of the minimum wage.
For this 2020 season, the arrival of more than 200 thousand turtles looking for a place to lay their eggs is estimated, which could be more than 22 million in total.
Learn more about Centro Ecoturístico Escobilla – Santuario de Tortugas Marinas
Source: oaxaca.quadratin.com.mx
